Michelle O'Neill

Michelle O'Neill (10 January 1977-) was the Leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland from 23 January 2017, succeeding Martin McGuinness.

Biography
Michelle Doris was born in Clonoe, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland on 10 January 1977 to a Catholic Irish republican family; her father was a Provisional IRA prisoner and Sinn Fein councillor, and one of her cousins was killed by the SAS in 1991. She assisted her father in his role as a Dungannon councillor from her teenage years, and she joined Sinn Fein in 1998 after the Good Friday Agreement. In 2007, she was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Mid-Ulster, succeeding Geraldine Dougan, and she was Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2016, succeeding Michelle Gildernew. On 23 January 2017, she became the new Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland after Martin McGuinness' resignation.